Van Morrison - Astral Weeks, Live at the Hollywood Bowl

Rating:

* * * * *

Morrison is a man who rarely looks back, but (perhaps following Sonic Youth with live performances of Daydream Nation album, Lou Reed with Berlin and many others), late last year he performed his classic 1968 Astral Weeks album in its entirety for the first time during two nights at the Hollywood Bowl. Forty years almost to the day after the release of the original album he assembled a band and string section and, after just one rehearsal, took to the stage.

Astral Weeks was then, and is now, an extraordinary conception: largely improvised in the studio with musicians better known for their jazz chops (guitarist Jay Berliner returned for the Bowl shows), it bridged blues, jazz, soul, rock and folk.

The album was completed in just two sessions, and some long jams had to be edited out to fit the constraints of the 40 minutes of vinyl.

But for the live outing Morrison and band stretch these songs in manner similar to his original conception. Where the delicate poetry of the original was compelling for its fragility and mystery, in this live treatment Morrison allows for a more full range of emotions, from the authoritative (Slim Slow Slider/Start Breaking Down) to the reflective but bluesy (Madame George).

With more musical space he scats, does that repeat-repeat-repeat thing which is his signature, allows for the band to fill the spaces he leaves, and generally extends this material into a wider orbit.

Morrison sounds more connected with the material than we had any right to expect after all these decades. On the night he warmed up with a set of his other classic material - that should appear on the tie-in DVD later - and here the set ends with a built-in encore of Listen to the Lion and Common One.

Blues, mysticism, the search for meaning, orchestration, folk, an open heart ... Van Morrison is that rare individual who encompasses it all.

And His Grumpiness is even smiling on the cover.

Surprising all round.

Graham Reid